Pilot studio scheme to nurture

Art on Sheppey

Art at the Centre is taking temporary residence in the Borough Hall Queenborough, so that alongside more traditional uses of the main hall, a series of creative enterprises and artist studios will have temporary residence in order to maximise usage of the space. The aim is to provide five studio spaces for creative enterprises and artists, using movable studded walls to define the space. These studios would mostly inhabit the smaller two spaces in the Borough Hall, leaving the larger Hall space free for bookings and regular community use, as well as offering the opportunity for exhibitions and creative events.

Art at the Centre aims to support artists to facilitate their collective presence, with a view to retaining the creative practitioners who ‘migrate’ to the capital, and thus developing the growing creative community in Swale. Studios/workspaces will extend the opportunities for local artists, to encourage new creative individuals and organisations to move to the Borough, to expand the “cultural offer” of the area and add vibrancy. The community will have the opportunity to see the showcase of products made by workspace practitioners, and artists will have an opportunity to market their works or services.

By running a pilot scheme in the Borough Hall for 1year, using minimum investments, Art at the Centre can prove the need for this facility, therefore gaining support when eventually providing the future planned permanent studio spaces ( to be sited somewhere on Sheppey).

As the Art at the Centre studio project is a pilot scheme, to test the viability of an independent Creative Economy Space on the Isle of Sheppey, the initial renovation works will be non-permanent alteration to the Borough Hall space. These changes include, signage, paintworks and movable partition walls. The alteration works will be coordinated by Art at the Centre Coordinator, Nicole Mollett, and carried out by a mixture of local businesses and voluntary helpers.

The Art at the Centre Team will strategically manage the studios, but day-to-day management is likely to be undertaken by a studio manager who will be offered a subsidised studio for undertaking this task.

Art at the Centre has twelve current requests for studio spaces from artists on the Isle of Sheppey. The Swale Borough Council Corporate Plan and current Queenborough & Rushenden Masterplan cite employment and learning & skills agendas as a priority for the area, and the development of CCIs forms part of the long-term vision for culture in Swale, as noted in Ambitions for Swale, Sustainable Communities Strategy.

This first year of creative space provision is of fundamental importance to the future success of the project as a whole. By embedding provision for the creative economy at the heart of the Queenborough and Rushenden regeneration project, this project will be instrumental in establishing culturally lead regeneration methodology in Swale.

Nicole Mollett, lead artist at Art At The Centre, said “Artists work at their best when they share a creative space and can share ideas. If they feel encouraged to be creative then that place becomes a source of inspiration. That is what we hope to achieve through running the pilot studio scheme.”

For those people who are interested in hiring a studio space please contact Nicole Mollett on nicolemollett@swale.gov.uk or phone 01795 417850.